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Forte Welcome to the Grand Valley Line. (This episode brought to you by fantasynamegenerators.com, who apparently have a name generator for literally everything)

There's no lead-up or mystery this time. "The train has been taken over by some strange thing that looks like a train like a face, which keeps shouting 'delete' over and over, and the train is currently barreling out of control" is pretty self-explanatory and also seems to fit the pattern of last week's incident.

The passenger train is barreling west to east along the San Francisco - New York line at unsafely dangerous speeds. The authorities are clearing the tracks and making sure it has nothing to smash into - but even so, it's gonna hit something eventually, so stopping it is probably a good idea. (Also it's still full of passengers.)

The train thing (that is, the train that has taken over the train) is in the conductor room at the very front of the train, visible through the windows - but the train is in motion at full speed. How do you get onboard?
Ishirou 'You have 8900 seconds until the train arrives.  You will need to jump between -1000 and -2378 to ensure maximum efficiency to board the train.  Too early will cause unsustainable damage, too late may cause you to miss the train, and decrease mission efficiency,' I4 hears on his com line from his operator.  'Please meet with the guidelines of this operation.'

"Aw, it sounds like you're actually concerned with my safety," I4 comments to which he gets a very flat reply, 'No I am concerned with PHANTOM equipment and the costs of rebuilding your damaged systems, or the cost of replacing your designation with a new unit.'

"Wow...that's...cold," I4 says dejected, as his complaining is interrupted by said operator indicating the train was coming.  I4, couching above a higher building waits for the Train to get closer, and at the right moment jumps.  His POD extends it's arms out so that he can grab on, slowing his descent to a reasonable level.  

'-2237, you nearly missed your mark.  I will put this on the mission report," to which I4 sighs annoyed.  "Yeah yeah," he complains.  'Only one confirmation is required.'

"What's that Operator?  Getting some interference...going to disconnect to reboot the radio," he says as he quickly disconnects.  I4 starts running up the train towards the engine, he already has an unpleasant feeling in his stomach, and he already knows that another data entity is likely also taken over by the Zero Virus.  Was there a way to counter the virus before it matured?  

This might give him the data he needs, or get him wrecked in the face.
Kupot The Slepnir roars down across the road of the Americafacsimile, ripping through the police line somewhere deep in Ohio. The huge motorcycle barrels through, bulldozing its way through a concrete barricade as if it were made of styrofoam.

A vending machine of snacks get devastated, ripped to shreds under the tires.

A magazine rack goes flying in a hail of confetti.

A Starbuck Kiosk topples in the shockwave of the passing of the motorcycle.

At the last moment, the mighty motorcycle leaps the turnstyles, a single credit flickering into the toll booth as it powers through. It barrels down to the end of the station, swerving around to face west. Kupot builds gas, the huge engines thrumming. In the distance, train horns and 'DELETE' can be heard on the air.

The train thunders closer and the motorcycle builds up to full speed, rushing towards the other end of the station. As the train comes in at full tilt, the motorcycle starts to match its pace.

Then, with a shift, Kupot drives the motorcycle up, and forward, the back blast of the train pushing his coat out in a billow as the Slepnir drives along the train to the top.

Where Kupot sets the parking brake and kick stand.
Strawberry Princess      Save people, test your limits, cultivate goodwill. Though it's as serious a duty as anything else Strawberry does for the Reignition Project, that's the part that makes all the harrowing nuclear experimentation and tedious tests worth it. It feels like being a hero- like being herself again.

     "Uncomplicated crisis" is practically a siren song to her. It's something you can cudgel into submission with magic and love and plutonium.

     A trail of sparkles and light slices through the sky above the train at eight thousand feet, looking like a shooting star against the blue sky. Then she twists her wings into a roll and plunges like a rock as she overtakes it, swooping down to ground level at gut-dropping speeds. The magical girl pulls up alongside the train's windows while breezing past, giving the passengers a reassuring yet serious wave. I know it's scary, but you'll be fine if I can help it, is the gist of the sentiment.

     As she overtakes the train's locomotive, Strawberry flips over onto her back while flying and plants both feet on the front of the engine, conjuring up an opaque pink barrier under her shoes to diffuse the force of what she's going to do.

     The control wands on Strawberry's wand start to withdraw from the core, giving it a 'spiky' profile to go with the skin-tingling radiation and high-energy whine. She aims it away from the train and up into the sky. "Firing on partial power," she mutters to herself- pure reflex from a hundred drills. "Ready, aim... clear."

     A column of heart-and-atom-powered ionizing hellfire stretches out from the tip of her wand and into outer space, dividing the sky in half. Her knees buckle under the sustained recoil even with her Shimmer Aura diffusing the brunt of it back into the locomotive.

     The Annihilator Beam is like a rocket thruster bolted to the front of the train, counteracting its forward momentum and shoving it backwards.
Forte "Delete, delete, delete -"

The 'conductor' is like a train with a face. He can just barely fit inside the conductor car - I4 can see what are basically real-life jpeg compression artifacts on him, suggesting that his natural size is a bit bigger.

There's also a flicker of some sort of real-life static... following the pattern from last week again. Though it seems like this time the infection isn't as far along, or at least the symptoms make it appear that way.

As I4 is approaching inside the train, Kupot stylishly lands on top of the train. However, the coin he tosses into the toll booth misses entirely, falling into a nearby garbage bin. That means that Kupot has BROKEN THE LAW.

"Delete, delete - hmm?"

The train (the one inside the other train) looks over at Strawberry through the window, and its eyes narrow. "Delete."

The train (that is, the one inside the other train) exhales. This is more dramatic than it sounds - since it exhales a puff of superheated smoke from it's smokestack, making the environment hazardous for everyone around!
Ishirou I4 can barely get his hand over his face in time as the superheated smoke washes over him, minor damage thanks to his quick actions as he pushes towards the engine itself.  Close enough, he attempts to try and get towards the outside of the train, and jump onto the front itself.  The infection isn't as bad, but there is no way to know how long that will take to mature.

He points an arm down, and sends a variety of energy beams into the train itself, attempting to directly hack the Navi.  The idea was to try and disrupt the connection between virus and Navi, to try and see if he could fight the infection of the data being direct.

It was very dicy because it might leave him open as well, but it SHOULD draw some attention.  Which will give Strawberry some time to try and disengage the train.  Hopefully.

Maybe.
Strawberry Princess      Strawberry's noise-cancelling earbuds turn the world around her into a muffled smudge while she's firing the Annihilator Beam, with only the occasional radio snippet cutting through the deafening roar. With her eyes off the Navi, the superheated smoke attack takes her entirely by surprise: she coughs in abrupt pain, bringing up an air-trapping forcefield too late to keep the brunt of it out.

     Still, her body moves on a half-decade of reflexes. The Annihilator Beam cuts out as she lets off the trigger and spins the wand around, turning it back on the Navi. She can't risk the blast overpenetrating and hitting the passenger cars, so even though the shot is point-blank, it has to be attenuated to 'only' blow out the locomotive's windows in a blinding fireball.

     The recoil sends her taking off ahead of the train again; she spreads her glittering translucent wings and swoops up in a loop, coming back down on top of the train next to I4 and the other helpful interloper. "LOOK AWAY," she yells over the whipping wind.

     This time the wand's dialed back to a fine laser, as bright as staring at the Sun. She walks forwards to the 'joint' between the first passenger car and the locomotive, firing it down to sever the connection and then sweeping it up to split the locomotive's roof clean open! It's not the most powerful attack she can muster, but hopefully it'll get some distance between the monster and the civilians.
Kupot As the moogle lands, things get HOT AND SMOKY. He tries to fish out a rebreather device, but it is coming too fast, blacking up his lenses. The choking gas builds up around him, smoke rolling all around and into his lung. He starts hacking harder. No way to it but to do it. Kupot swings out his katana, cutting a circle around him in the ceiling of the train so he can fall through. Easy enough. They just have to get to a stretch of level track. Kupot runs for the first joining of the train, katana drawn. He breaks through one door, down through a next, looking for the joining compartment of the train cars.

He kicks down a door, katana out, jacket spilling out behind him... and sees Strawberry Princess has already done the thing.

"Kupo." He nods in appreciation to her.
Strawberry Princess      Strawberry does her best to smile heroically and nod right back at the little guy who's just emerged below her. Oh, god, what is that? Isn't this supposed to be a normal-ish Earth? Is it a... a hovering samurai midget? Jesus.
Forte The passenger compartment disconnects, and the locomotive's roof splits open, cutting up ChargeMan.EXE some in the process. The head of the train (inside the train) can't turn its head, but there's a strong sense of side-eye going on.

"Delete, delete, delete! Delete-"

And then I4 starts his hacking, sending a disruptive pulse. The beams connect, and one of them seems to hit... something.

"Dele- help, end-DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!"

Just for a moment, ChargeMan's countenance changes.

And then it backs up a bit, and smashes out through the front of the train, landing on the tracks - and decompressing back to its normal size.

"DELETE!"

*Now* you're all fighting a full-size train, with the full-size passenger train's engine still chugging along behind it. And the superheated smoke is intensifying!
Ishirou The smoke intensifies and this time I4 can't fully compensate.  Worse it doesn't seem to be focusing him and attacking everyone.  This is bad...very bad.  He first updates the HUD of Strawberry, making sure she is aware of the area around the train's track itself.  

"Update complete," he calls out to her, thankfully not having to worry about BREATHING.  Of course, hot air still burns.  

Once more, he reaches out towards the digital version of Charge man, and sends another array of hacking beams at it.  He tries to push harder than last time, trying to isolate and single out the virus.  Some data kept for research later, while others destroyed outright.  If he could give him control of his functions back, then maybe he could prevent his death.

Come on...come on!
Kupot Weird midget samurai. He sticks out, but the katana is definitely sharp and ready. The entire FRONT of the train explodes, metal coming down on Kupot. His primary mode of defense isn't easy here, especially with Strawberry Princess right there. He can't swing and parry. Instead, he holds his arm up, letting the metal slam against his flesh, tearing into the flesh and underarmor, blood spouting from the wound and onto the jacket.

His hand slams backwards, climbing claws latching the side of the wall.

A moment later, Kupot leaps up onto the engine car before it can get away, giving him a platform to fight the massive ChargeMn.EXE on.

His HUD takes a second to take in the scenery before he starts running towards the run of the train to leap straight at ChargeMn.EXE, katana downward!
Strawberry Princess      Strawberry spreads her wings again and launches off of the roof of the car as the massive train-monster emerges. She gets distance- a lot of distance, swerving a thousand feet off to the side of the track in the blink of an eye. She's flying 'sideways' now, strafing it and lining up the shot with the feathery wings on her wand like they're iron sights.

     The train's an easy target. The problem is the towns and cities that blur past in the far distance, highlighted as red blips on her HUD courtesy of I4. When she fires the Annihilator Beam, it'll irradiate a swathe of land extending who-knows-how-far 'downstream'. Destroying empty buildings always felt like acceptable collateral for heroism, but boosting cancer rates for Nowheresville, Iowa is too much to shoulder.

     The wand rattles and groans and glows unhealthy retina-searing colors as she charges it up. To the other combatants, she's an actinic speck off to the left. "Weaken him," I4 had said- so she only pushes it to half throttle before finding a geographical opening, finding the gap between towns and letting loose with a shotgun-blast of tightly-grouped projectiles, all luminous white and scorchingly radioactive. There's a sound like thunder as every shadow gains a twin, cast by a stillborn second sun-
Forte "Delete, Delete-"

Kupot runs at ChargeMan, getting up, and *slamming* his katana home, carving large chunks out of the living train. ChargeMan *roars* in pain, releasing more huge blasts of smoke and steam.

"DELETE, DELETE!"

It starts rocking back and forth, trying to shake him off-

The nuclear-powered attack happens.

Parts of the data-form navi are just simply *cleaved off*, revealing the homogenous structure underneath. There aren't organs or wires or fluids or electronics, it's just all vaguely-defined data, and suddenly missing 65% of its body mass isn't slowing ChargeMan down as much as it would a normal person - even if it leaves it incredibly pissed off.

But... while losing that much data integrity doesn't necessarily slow it down in the physical world, it leaves a wide open hole for something else.

For I4's hacking beams to penetrate *straight through*!

"Del- delete...?"

Almost immediately, it starts slowing down - confused, hurt, but... also, in a lot of ways, better.

I4 has successfully pulled the virus from ChargeMan.exe's systems, and isolated some of it to be researched later. That is, on the whole, a good thing.

On the whole, anyway. Not entirely. Because I4 couldn't quite isolate *all* of the virus. ChargeMan makes a retching sound, as if he's about to be ill, and then the data-train's smokestack belches forth one more time, disgorging a distressingly familiar thing.

-=-=-=-=-=-ENCOUNTER=-=-=-=-=-
-=-ZERO VIRUS: GASEOUS FORM-=-
BATTLE ROUTINE - SET - EXECUTE


It floats above the trains, keeping up with their relative speeds, translucent and not quite 'all there' as it was when QuickMan.EXE transformed into it. The virus looks stunned for a moment - only for a moment, though.

Because while its old host has been cured, it senses a new attack vector.

The gaseous data form turns in mid-air, facing towards I4, and then all at once rushing at him, homing in on him, slashing with its awful-looking sword!
Kupot The legenia on Kupot's sword flashes wildly. The power of ancient heroes claws towards the surface. His eyes dart down towards the blade, both of his eyebrows lifting, "Kupo." He reaches both arms down. But then stops. No, something is changing. Zero returns again, pulling up and out of the train. Is that a..cloud? How is it projecting itself?

The moment of curiosity enters Kupot's brain on just how this creature works, how it functions, it is a computer program, right, how is it out here?

And then Kupot is running, flipping back from ChargeMn.EXE back to the original train engine.

"HEROES OF OLD, KUPO! GIVE ME YOUR STRENGTH!"

Orange flies out from the katana, enveloping Kupot as he slams the katana into the scabbard and lands in front of the train. The engine keeps going over him, and for a moment, Kupot is gone. And then the engine lifts up into the air. The tracks bend as the weight of both sag into a single point in the ground. It is almost impossible to see Kupot under the train as he heaves it up, and in a single mighty hurl, meteor throws it at the data.
Ishirou Success!  He separated the virus from Charge man.  He's a genus!

The virus is now in a gas form, probably less an actual gas more an abstraction.  It charges I4.  "Oh no."

He manages to try and lock down his own systems, but he's not QUITE fast enough.  The virus tears through him, trying to take control of his own systems, and in the process, extensive damage happens as the two fight.  He struggles against it, moving jerkily as he tries to retain control, and more damage happens because of the two forces trying to move his body.  

"POD...Hacking Protocol.  Target...ME!" He says and directs his own hacking systems to himself.  Literally trying to hack himself to violently throw the Zero Virus out, while also trying to scramble it as much as he can.  

This is going to hurt.
Strawberry Princess      Aiming the Annihilator Beam at I4 would be ludicrous, practically homicidal- and so Strawberry Princess doesn't. She is, underneath all the glitter and heroism, a Zoomer. And that means that- when she runs into a novel problem- she gets out her cell phone.

     Extremely sophisticated Hacker Text blurs past as she tappety-types with both thumbs, holding the still-running nuclear wand under her arm. She's stuffed some kind of intrusive antivirus into it, to beam into I4 and help purge him of its influence! But the signal...

     This is Bumfuck Midwest Nowhere. She's got no bars. So instead she switches it to local wireless, winds back her arm, and heaves the phone at I4's head.

     Bonk.
Forte The katana comes through, sailing through the dataform and ripping a big hole through it just before it disappears into I4.

Inside, the virus comes face to face with I4's systems - which are on a deletion path of their own.

I4 SYSTEM LOG: "Delete."

There is a violent internal struggle - one invisible to the naked eye, in which I4 supercharges his immune system (which is not advisable for anyone, flesh or electronic, to do) and it gets pushed back, line by line, through the android's systems...

... In terms of real life, the struggle takes seconds. In terms of electronics, thousands upon thousands of cpu cycles go by before finally the Zero Virus gets expelled from I4, thankfully without any sort of bodily function imagery this time, just sort of popping back into existence from the android's head.

It's smaller than the gaseous form that invaded I4, weaker looking, but no less lethal as it looks about for its next target-

-and then it disappears as Strawberry Princess's phone impacts it dead on.

The phone falls to the floor of the passenger train's conductor room, and all is still.

... Well, relatively still, everything's still in motion since you're on a pair of trains/trainpeople.
Ishirou There is a giant spark, before an explosion tears through his systems and causes him to fly back against the smokestack before tumbling over on his face.  Systems are glitching out, as he tries to restore them.  Thankfully, the remaining piece of the Zero virus is caught in Strawberry's Nokia </s> iPhone.  

"S-shut the p-phone off.  So we can make sure it doesn't escape into the network when it reconnects.  I can extract it in a secure place later..." he says between twitches.  

Slumping he laughs a little.  He tries to see if Charge Man is responding.  Hopefully, he's fine.
Forte ChargeMan is fine - well, 'fine' is debatable, but he's slowing down along with the passenger train engine, and isn't attacking anyone.

"This... was bad," says the train (the one that's a person, not a train-train), in a booming voice.
Strawberry Princess      BANG.

     The phone explodes into flames as a bullet pierces its battery. Hundreds of feet away, Strawberry Princess holsters her concealed Glock. Nobody, not even a bizarre pseudo-energy computer virus, is allowed to look at her phone.

     It's only after that that she swoops down to check on I4, landing neatly beside him and clapping her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?! That- you look awful, I'm sorry. Let's get you back somewhere safe. You've been very brave, but I want to make sure you're okay."
Ishirou I4 had sent the pod to check up on Charge man.  A flying box with small arms hovers over him.  'Affirmative.  We can provide assistance.'

I4, however, is laughing a little, pulling off the blindfold over his eyes.  They're blue, and he looks up at Strawberry.  "Thanks, I'm fine...take care of the passengers first.  I'm not able to bleed out.  Take me over to Charge man if you can?"
Kupot Kupot watches the phone get shot with a frown, "That will not kill it, kupo." He offers.

He knows why. But as a hacker, he knows how to keep people from seeing his access to mooglebitches.com

He looks at ChargeMn.EXE. He frowns, opening his mouth to ask questions about WHY THE HELL ARE YOU A GIANT TRAIN. He closes his mouth again, then shrugs, following over to I4. "It could have taken over my cybernetics. The next time a machine kupos out of control, we should bring a golem cage."
Forte The phone explodes, and that seems to be that.

"Assistance would be nice..." booms the train person.

The various trains (or cars thereof) slow down to a stop.

"I'm trying to piece together what happened..." says ChargeMan. "There was this... star-shaped person, who claimed to be selling a Zero antivirus..."
Strawberry Princess      Strawberry offers I4 a weak, tense smile- the upper half of her own face is still hidden by her costume's deep pink hemispherical visor. "Right. I'll- try not to worry about you, if I can help it." With a quiet pop, she encases him in a translucent pink bubble, then swishes her wand in ChargeMan's direction- I4 is whisked over at breakneck speeds, then deposited safely as the bubble pops!

     She pauses before heading back to the passenger train, though, her attention arrested by Kupot again. She bends down with her hands on her knees in that obvious Talking-To-A-Child posture. "I really appreciate your help, but we need to make sure you're safe too, okay? I bet that smoke was probably bad for your lungs, right? Why don't you stick with I4 until we can get somebody to check on you. I'll call for some Paladins support." She's still smiling, but it's with a slightly forced bravery and warmth.

     Then she's gone, zipping away on glittering wings to check on the passengers. She'll try to slow it down with gentle force-fields and blast-retrothrustering if it hasn't stopped already, then deactivate her radioactive wand and enter to reassure and examine the civilians. Seeing someone with obvious Pastel Justice Hero Aesthetics tends to do wonders for soothing a panic.
Kupot Kupot lets out a little sigh as Strawberry gets to the end of her soothings, "Kupo I-" Annnnnd she's gone.

"Star shaped does not narrow it down, kupo. Is there anything more?"
Ishirou "Ok, just try and keep the worry to the healthy amount," I4 says, with a forced chuckle before FLUNG back over to Charge man.  He can at least, try and repair the data, at least enough to try and get the man walking again.  Or flying?  Or whatever data people do.

"Star-shaped Person?  Hm...so he sold you something to protect you from the infection, and then this happened?  I'm sorry, but you were infected with the virus.  I...let me see if I can restore your memory?" He says, before trying to hack again.  

It's basically the only thing he can do now.  To Kupo he nods, "Not sure if that'll work. We also have to save the Navi that's infected...we don't want another Zero virus on the lose."
Forte "... My operator got a better look. I - hope he's okay..."

I4 gets some memory files out.

The civilians are alright. They're being coralled by some guy in an old-style conductor uniform, who's taken charge. "Everyone off of the train, single file! Move away from the tracks! Don't worry about your luggage - getting to safety is more important!"

The man looks up warily as Strawberry approaches.
Ishirou I4 restores the memories for Chargeman, because he's not a jerk like that, but makes a copy of them for himself.  

He frowns, "It wasn't an accident," he says towards Kupot, "And I have the image of the man who did it."
Strawberry Princess      That wary gaze feels almost like a physical force. If Strawberry Princess were in the psychological posture of an ordinary person, it'd freeze her in her tracks. Right now, though, she's being "Strawberry Princess", and that's someone who is strong and confident. She only flinches a little bit as she stows the wand over her back.

     She smiles in a relatably beleaguered way, signaling to him that she's sympathetic with his burden of responsibility, but gets right to the point. "There's no damage to the tracks that I saw. I have reason to believe that many people here may have been exposed to low-" she emphasizes that word- "levels of radioactive fallout. It's not immediately dangerous, but for health reasons, they should be encouraged to change their clothes and shower as soon as practical- especially before they eat anything. Is there any way the Paladins can be of further assistance?"

     That's a lot for her to say without stumbling or faltering- it's almost rehearsed. She's getting better at playing the part.
Kupot "Someone is creating havoc, kupo? But why?" He frowns at ChargeMan, then shakes his head, turning back to I4, "Who is the man? Anyone creating havoc like this is a danger to all, kupo."
Forte "Yeah," says the conductor. "Did... ChargeMan..."

He seems to lose his composure - but only for a second, and then it's back. "Do you know the status of the train-like being that had taken over this passenger train?"

Meanwhile, up ahead on the tracks, ChargeMan gives an impressive shrug (impressive for a train). "Now that I've got that picture back... looks like another navi. NetNavi, like I am. Could be someone from my home world..."

"They'd be named something-man, or more rarely some musical term, usually."
Ishirou I4 shakes his head, he doesn't know why.  He just knows that it is.  "Take it easy there, Chargeman.  You'll be alright with some time.  Once I'm better I can probably help speed your stuff along.." he groans.

Something man... "Well, he looks like..." a think.  "So his name would be s-s-Nova man."
Strawberry Princess      "It's..." Strawberry fumbles for a moment, remembering how I4 had referred to the train-like entity. Then she inhales, straightens her shoulders- she's unsettlingly tall when that habitual slouch vanishes- and looks down at him with a nod. "'ChargeMan' is injured, but we've solved the problem that had caused him to go berserk. He's going to be fine. I promise."

     The fear of losing a friend. She understands that deeply, even if she doesn't understand digital trains with faces.
Kupot Kupot frowns, "Novas are not sta..." He shakes his head, "Kupo. I will stay behind here for a few days and access the local internet."
Forte "NovaMan, that's it, yeah," says ChargeMan.

"... So this NovaMan... selling the antivirus, he's the one responsible? That's messed up. That's like leaving the station five seconds too late messed up."

The conductor looks relieved. "When he started going berserk... I had feared the worst. Thank you."

"If there's anything I can do to help, please do let me know."
Ishirou I4 nods, "I'll go get repaired and I'll come help when I'm better. YOU should get healed up too..." I4 says sternly towards Kupot. "I guess we're all in this together."

I4 looks at ChargeMan, "Yeah, it is. I'm I4 by the way, my friends call me Foureyes."